Teen Planned Tampa School Bomb Plot: Police

Tampa law enforcement officials took a 17-year-old male into custody after they discovered that the boy was planning an attack on a local high school, Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said Wednesday.

Police said that they found explosive materials and a manifesto outlining a minute-by-minute attack on Freedom High School in the teenager's room. Castor said that the suspect hoped to kill approximately 30 students and two administrators, ABC News reported.

Police also found materials used to make pipe bombs, including a source of fuel, shrapnel, plastic tubing, and timing and fusing devices.

A journal contained drawings of rooms inside of the school and perverse statements pertaining to death.

The boy faces felony charges of possession of bomb-making materials, cultivating marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possessing of marijuana and threatening to throw, project, place or discharge a destructive device.

Castor said that police received a tip but did not name the individual who informed them. Castor also said that the boy appeared to be the only person involved in the devious plan.

Tampa Police called the plan, which aimed to blow up the school on the first day of classes, "catastrophic."

Castor said that extra police will be provided for the opening of Tampa public schools next week.